I absolutely love greek myth retellings, and Natalie Haynes is a master in her craft.
This is the story of Medusa every woman was waiting to hear, a story seen through a lens that was denied to us all for centuries.

3.5 stars
I really wanted to love this one as Medusa's story is one of my favourites and I love seeing authors re-tell it. However this one just didn't do it for me.

Whilst I loved the Medusa sections in this book she was only really in it for about 30% of the book which to me is odd considering this is sold as a Medusa story.

I found myself just getting annoyed with how petty the gods and Perseus were being and whilst I know that this is most likely how they would have acted, I just found myself wanting more of Medusa.

I enjoy Natalie Haynes writing and I'm excited to pick up more of her books in the future.

I’m a huge fan of Natalie Haynes so I was really excited to read this - and it didn’t disappoint in terms of a reading experience! I loved all the squabbles and rivalries between the gods and goddesses, who came to life with vibrancy and power. The only tiny issue I had with Stone Blind is that I could have done with a little more of Medusa herself. However, that aside, It’s a beautifully written and at times darkly funny book which I loved spending time with. No one writes about Greek mythology in quite the way Haynes does and I can’t wait to read whatever she comes out with next!

I'm a huge fan of Natalie Haynes - The Children of Jocasta is one of my favourite novels - so I went into Stone Blind with lofty expectations, hoping I would have another favourite in my hands, and I absolutely was not let down. Haynes' writing is once again so sumptuous and intriguing - the prose was lyrical, and the characterisation was brilliant. Highly recommend this (as well as A Thousand Ships and The Children of Jocasta).

This ended up being a great retelling of Medusa's story, in a way that summarised it really well. But that's also what it mostly felt like - a summary, as perhaps there wasn't as much to tell, compared with the other characters with whom she interacted? I love Natalie Haynes' work, but it felt like there just wasn't as much to work with in this instance.

Natalie is an expert storyteller who weaves new female voices into stories we already know so well. Adored

"Stone Blind" has an interesting narrative structure, being told from the perspective of different women and retelling the story of Perseus from their point of view. I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it anyone who liked mythology retellings.

Stone Blind is such a beautifully written fantasy. The world-building is outstanding. This Medusa retelling is well written with an enchanting storyline and well-developed characters that engage from start to finish. The world is atmospheric and feels real with vivid descriptions and rich imagery. Natalie Haynes has earned herself a spot on my auto-buy authors list. I cannot get enough. Highly recommended. Be sure to check out Stone Blind today.

A story advertised as being about Medusa's life had seek my attention from the very beginning when I decided to pick up the book, as I am interested more in reading and knowing her story, but to my disappointment Medusa's story was only covered the percentage of 30 to 40% of the book.

Now, I do understand why the author has chosen to speak so little about Medusa when the whole universe has a range of Gods who are intersecting each others lives much more than a twister game.

I do like their pettiness and lack of judgement sometimes, but the love for their dear ones especially the closeness between Medusa and her sisters, and her slayer who travelled an unknown land for the love of his mother (no sympathy whatsoever) had me at the edge if my seat.


Overall, the Gods universe and their revenge, war and sacrifices for dear ones is a fantastic storytelling where Medusa could have been introduced more than 40%
I gave it a solid 3 stars 🌟

Many thanks to the publisher for the gifted copy

Feminist retellings of Greek myths relay is a publishing phenomenon at the moment and the latest from Natalie Haynes is another great addition to the mix.

This time we don’t have Troy in focus but Medusa, the legendary monster that we all know as the one with a horrifying appearance, snakes for hair, and a glance that can turn you into stone. What we know of her is little more than this for, as Natalie is here to show, the male writers of myths and history have reduced this woman with an extraordinary backstory into little more than another horrifying creature that was righteously slain by an all-conquering hero, Perseus.

Now, Natalie is here to break things In Stone Blind, Natalie reveals Medusa to have been a brave and benevolent young woman who was brutally raped by Poseidon and cursed by Athene, More than this, the supposed hero who killed her was no hero but a preening narcissist in pursuit of glory and bloodlust.
In these pages, Natalie broadens her reach to being to life a world where gods and humans mixed, where women were the first to be cursed and sacrificed, but men were little more than weak fools bloated with ego and elf-entitlement.

It’s a heady mix, and Natalie deftly blends in a bit of humour to balance – and emphasise – the tragedy. Though I enjoyed this book, perhaps I was a little surprised to see it longlisted for the Women’s Prize 2023; it is, after all, a little bit didactic, a bit ‘on the nose’, in places. Still, an enjoyable read, nevertheless.

Another fantastic Greek myth retelling from Natalie Haynes. Haynes does an excellent job of immersing the reader into Medusa’s world as well as retelling the adjoining myths that explain *why* Perseus was sent to her and what happened after the famous ‘heroic’ deed was done. I don’t want to spoil that for any who are unfamiliar with Medusa’s story so I am being purposefully vague.

I was already familiar with some aspects of Perseus/Andromeda/Medusa’s story but I really enjoyed Haynes’ version. I loved that she emphasised how, actually, a lot of these ‘heroic’ acts of Greek myth are in fact barbaric. I have enjoyed learning to reconsider all these stories and think about who the monsters really are.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the chance to read this beautiful book. I couldn't put this book down. Complex, intense and addictive

Recommended for those who love a read and those who are fans of mythology. A great read just like the authors previous mythology retellings. Looking forward to a reread when I buy a physical copy.

A rich, layered take on the story of Medusa, this is more of a chorus of voices than a linear story. It’s really interesting seeing how the different women in Greek mythology overlap, and how they try to exert and keep power in an incredibly patriarchal structure. That being said, I would have loved to have seen more of Medusa herself!

Its a huge disappointment to be giving a Natalie Haynes book anything less than a four star review yet here we are.
Haynes's prose is still great, this time expertly mimicking the structure of an ancient epic poem. Medusa and her gorgon sisters are given complex characters throughout the tale, more than they were given in their time.
The problem with this book is primarily that its not terribly accessible to the casual reader. Me? Obsessed with Greek mythology. Can't get enough. And even I had to sometimes look up who people were and how they related to the story, because Haynes never explains it. I cant imagine coming into the book blind (ba-dum-tsh!) and trying to understand who's who and why we've taken a chapter to talk about xyz only to never revisit it again.
This one really is only for the hardcore greek myth fans, and thats not the standard I would expect for this author.

6/10

I am that person that was never particularly thrilled by myths and legends. They were old-fashioned, nobody could pick a side (Greek vs Roman), unabashedly sexist, and the actions of the gods were absurd. And yet, I’ve now suddenly found myself reading multiple modern takes on ancient myths.

Because I’m not entirely ignorant, I did know about Medusa, her snakes, and her stoney stare, but I knew nothing of the origin and conclusion to her story.

When it comes to GOOD retellings, authors can do them in one of two ways: either change the setting or events, and keep central themes; or keep the setting and events true to the original, but offer a different perspective. Haynes goes for the latter, and it is so effective.

One of my favourite reading experiences, is that feeling of having a perspective broadened, or changed. That is how books open up new worlds: not just by imaginary travel to foreign lands, but very real travels into foreign concepts.

My view on two common complaints:
1. Multiple POV: the narrator, mostly, is omniscient, and describes a character’s experience at that time. I didn’t find it hard at all. A handful of narrators are less removed and more opinionated - at one point AN ACTUAL OLIVE GROVE is a narrator - and it worked well for me. It seemed a little cheeky, and I liked it.
2. Not enough of Medusa: So many readers are annoyed by the fact that not all of the book focuses on her, but rather also on other contemporaneous events. But this is the WHOLE POINT: women who are wronged are rarely wronged in isolation, and rarely by only one final entity. Sexism and violence against women are extensively woven into social fabric, and it is an art to see - and convey - a bird’s eye view of it all.

So yes, clearly I loved it. I also enjoyed the fun that Haynes likes to poke at the gods. She really has a lovely subtle sense of humour that pervades a book that might otherwise have been too overwhelmingly dark.

The trend of Greek mythology retellings in recent years hasn't been so much a wave as a deluge, and one which seems to be never ending. However, Stone Blind truly stands out amongst the crowd.

Whether it's down to Haynes' expertise on the subject as a classist or perhaps just her engaging writing style, but this retelling of Medusa's story is truly unique. Haynes centres Medusa as a person, not a monster. She explores the nuances of her story, her very human relationship with her Gorgon sisters, her suffering at the hands of Poseidon and then Artemis, and despite all of this, her wish not to hurt anyone.

At the same time as redefining Medusa's story, Hayne's also reframes that of Perseus making him out to be arrogant, even pathetic and ineffectual at times. He is far less than heroic, barely managing any part of his quest alone and needing constant help from the gods.

Joining the chorus of perspectives in this story we also see what happens on Olympus. Haynes' gods are hilarious - think Disney's Hercules but for adults. The gods are resoundly mocked for their vanity, self-importance and, in Zeus's case, promiscuity. These moments of humor and lightness balance the novel's gravity.

The layers of different perspectives and voices add dimension to the story, exploring reasons behind the actions of both humans and gods. It would be easy to demonise Athene for Medusa's fate but Haynes layers more complexity into the story than this. The narrative style also echoes the origins of these stories - telling many different, intertwined and interwoven tales.

Stone Blind adds a new layer to the mythology of one of the most famous fictional 'monsters' not only showing us how she wasn't a monster at all, but providing a unique take on the wider context of her story.

Written on Goodreads August 2022

It was an absolute pleasure to be mailed a finished copy of Stone Blind after months of correspondence to Natalie Haynes's publicist. The story of Medusa has long been a favourite of mine, her story is tragic, but time has turned her tragedy into one of feminist power.

The direction that Haynes took to deliver Medusa's story was not what I expected. It covered many points of view from Medusa herself, to Athene and Hera, to Andromeda and the Gorgoneion. It covered themes of what it means to be a monster, innocence, consequence and questions about heroism.

Due to the many points of view, however, it didn't actually feel like Medusa's story. There were too many voices involved which took the reader's gaze away from Medusa. Andromeda, for example, had a completely different story that only entwined with Medusa as the Gorgoneion. Haynes used the women who would be entangled in Medusa's story as the Gorgoneion to create a larger subplot.

Medusa's metamorphosis was handled really well, her devotion to Sthenno, and Euryale and the need to protect mortal girls became the reason Poseidon raped her. There are of course many different avenues that any writer can take to interpret how Medusa was raped by Poseidon, but Haynes stuck true to Athene punishing her. There is always the question of why Athene did this, and Haynes answers it simply as to spite Poseidon.

The language was masterful, the dialogue in particular. Athene is shown to be quick-witted and petulant, Hera is deceitfully skirting indirectly around Zeus's infidelity, while Medusa is a sheltered child with many questions. The idea of having Medusa and the Gorgoneion as two separate points of view works really well; it shows Medusa's further transformation after her head is severed from her body. It is only after this that she is able to realise the true extent of her power and the destruction it causes. Though, at this point, she is so full of malcontent that she does not care about the number of men she is forced to kill at the hands of Perseus. She is intrigued by her power when she sees Atlas, and aggrieved by it when her gaze meets Ceto.

Anyone who loves Greek myth and Medusa will love Stone Blind!

First of all, I would like to say thank you for the review copy, which was provided to me by the publisher. This fact does not in any way affect my personal opinion of this book. This post contains advertising and the rights for the book belong to the publisher.
Of course, is this only my personal opinion of the book and just because I give this rating to the book doesn’t mean, that everyone will have that opinion.

I like Greek Mythology, and I’ve had my fair share of retellings in the last few years. When I heard about a book about Medusa, I was very excited.

I had a bit of a problem going into the storyline. The different characters weren’t a problem, but more with the fact that we got so many different perspectives and writing styles. The glossary did help, but I still couldn’t get a real emotional connection towards any of the characters, so the whole story felt a bit meh sometimes.

But on the other side, I liked it. I liked how the strings all tied together at the end and how each part was different. I think I went into the book with the expectation of a fantasy book and maybe this was not the right idea.

Medusa’s Story is a tragic one and reading about it will make you feel angry. I also liked the author’s different portraits of the gods and goddesses. I will pick up another book from this author!

Please note the following: This book does not have a trigger warning in the book! I think it would be beneficial if one was added because not everyone knows the original story of Medusa.
Please beware of the following triggers: rape, death, sexual assault, violence, infidelity

Conclusion
An interesting perspective on Medusa’s Story!

I give this book 3,5 Stars!

Medusa is one of those stories we all know and love, this retelling was just the one I needed to read. It brings is the gods and goddess i had forgotten about without taking away from the main story.

I good read not as good as a thousand ships but still one I would recommend to everyone

3.75⭐️ // ARC provided by the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

'Why would anyone love a monster?' asked Perseus.
'Who are you to decide who is worthy of love?' said Hermes.
'I mean, I wasn't . . .'
'And who are you to decide who is a monster?' added the messenger god.

Stone Blind is pitched as 'Medusa's Story', and in a sense, it was - Natalie Haynes deftly weaves together the perspectives of mortals, gods, and even the occasional olive grove or talking crow to tell a story of immense breadth, charting all the way from the circumstances surrounding Medusa's birth, to the consequences of her brutal death. The world-building and character work was detailed and believable, and the more modern storytelling style made the tale engaging and easy to read.

However, in covering such breadth, for me the story felt like it had sacrificed some of its depth - and this was noticeable in Medusa herself, as there are very few chapters where we get to hear directly from her. Whilst the multiple POVs are great to provide scope and fullness to the tale, Medusa herself gets rather lost in it for me - which is a shame as she was the character I was looking forward to exploring most, and without spending more time with her, the resultant story felt a little one-dimensional in tone and message, despite the many viewpoints.